Bellingham runaway teen found in Ohio

Wednesday

Jan 22, 2014 at 4:05 PMJan 22, 2014 at 4:05 PM

BELLINGHAM — Authorities in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday found the runaway teenager who left town last week and have placed him into custody until his parents arrive to bring him home.Daniel Bell, a sophomore at Bellingham High School, was last seen Jan. 14 at the Bellingham Public Library. Police say Bell, who recently turned 17, took off on his own accord after erasing his online profiles and shutting off his cell phone.Bellingham Police Department school resource officer Leonard Gosselin, one of two local law enforcement officials who worked to find the teen, said Columbus police spotted Bell with a friend Wednesday afternoon and took him into custody.Police believed Bell went to Columbus to meet with the friend.Gosselin had been in contact with Columbus Police Department Missing Persons detectives.Bell, he said, was in good spirits.The teen's mother and stepfather were planning to travel to Columbus Wednesday to reunite with him, Gosselin said.“They’re happy and concerned,” Gosselin said of the parents. “They want to know why he left.”Gosselin was relieved that Bell had been found, he said. “It was a joint effort by a lot of people,” he said, specifically crediting Columbus authorities and Bell’s parents.Gosselin knew the teen personally from his time as the department’s D.A.R.E. officer, calling Bell, a member of the drama club and the mock-trial team at Bellingham High, a “reserved, quiet kid.”